Safe home, Grandpa in church, putting up hay, Mama’s surgery

Grandma, Grandpa, Norman and Seth arrived safe at the farm Saturday evening. The trip took its toll on Grandma but all in all, they were in good spirits when they arrived. We spent the evening walking around the farm with Norman showing him the sights and looking over the meadows. Grandma sat down in the recliner and started talking and did not stop for the entire evening. Moca came with them. She is Grandma’s special pal now because the two of them spent so many hours together while the men were out working.

I asked Norman if he was going to church with us and he said he would. Grandma was not to be left out – especially since it was Mother’s Day – and for the first time in over a year, Grandpa went to church also. Nobody went back to Sunday night services with us, but they all made the morning service.

Grandpa, Norman and I started working on the mower after lunch Sunday afternoon and replaced a couple of parts Mama and I had gotten while they were in West Virginia. Then he got started on the large meadow and did not get off the tractor until just before we got home from church that evening. Today they are going to rake and bale what was cut. Tonight, Lord willing, we will get some of the predicted rain.

I was off yesterday for Mama’s surgery. It went well but we were at the hospital from noon until a little after 6 p.m. for a thirty minute procedure. I finally got her home around 7 p.m. She spent a lot of time in recovery. When they called me back she was trying to wake up but she was not trying very hard. So I had to encourage her to fight through the anesthesia and get ready to go home.

When she did get out of the bed to go to the bathroom she got very nauseated and the attending nurse gave her something for the nausea. He had left the IV in just in case we had that problem. She was almost instantly better and I was dispatched to the car with all the items we were taking home with us. We met at the entrance and got her carefully loaded into the car for the ride home.

At the house we were met by Seth holding a welcome home sign. He had Grandma’s wheelchair out in the driveway and a set of ramps laid out for the wheelchair to ease Mama up the steps and into the house. That went pretty well. Mama will not be coming down those steps for a couple days at least and if she does not improve her technique with crutches, it could be longer.

She is not to put any weight on the knee for at least 24 hours. After that she can begin to use it as she is able to tolerate the pain. She is absolutely not to twist the knee for a couple of weeks, at which time we will begin therapy. The doctor told me this is a temporary fix which will prolong total knee replacement for several years. (He does not know about the herbal regimen we are going to put Mama on.)

He also said that weight loss is the key to prolonging any further remediation of the knee issues with Mama. Grandma has committed to getting on a better diet and losing weight with Mama. That will be a difficult thing to do when her normal breakfast is an oatmeal cake and a cup of sweet coffee. Although Mama’s diet is much better than that, she still likes sweets far too much.

It will be an interesting couple of months.